To the Journal editor:

I have enjoyed being a subscriber to our local Mining Jounal for years, but recently the passing of a celebrity — important to our region — was either deemed not newsworthy or it somehow slipped through the cracks.

I am referring to the death of the great singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. He passed away May 1 and I only found out weeks later from Time Magazine.

Lightfoot not only performed several times in the Upper Peninsula, but he wrote what has become a sort of anthem to our local culture: “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Before recording the song that he himself thought was his finest creation, Mr. Lightfoot personally visited each victim’s family to get their blessings and kept up relationships with many of them afterward.

Gordon Lightfoot was a class act and left the world a legacy of wonderfully crafted songs. His passing did not deserve to go unreported.